Three years on, communities affected by the 2023 earthquake in Morocco confront a mixed reality: visible reconstruction in some towns alongside makeshift tent camps where families remain displaced. Reconstruction efforts have repaired sections of damaged neighbourhoods and restored key services in urban centres, yet many residents continue to live without permanent housing. The contrast between rebuilt streets and temporary settlements has left public assessments of recovery sharply divided.
Local and national rebuilding programmes have sought to move recovery from emergency response to longer-term reconstruction. Investments in repairing infrastructure and restoring utility connections are evident in a number of affected areas, but progress has been uneven geographically. Remote mountain communities and peripheral neighbourhoods report slower returns of construction teams and supplies, while complex logistics and competing needs have slowed the pace of permanent housing solutions for some survivors.
Opinions among residents reflect this unevenness. Some households have been able to return to reconstructed homes and resume normal activities, while others say they remain dependent on tents or temporary shelters months after displacement. Debates centre on whether state support is timely and sufficient. The Moroccan government has overseen assistance programmes intended to rebuild housing and restore services, but community organisations and local leaders continue to press for clearer timelines, faster delivery and expanded aid for those still displaced.
Three years after the disaster, the transition from emergency relief to durable recovery underlines wider challenges: financing the next phase of reconstruction, ensuring equitable access to housing, and re-establishing livelihoods disrupted by the quake. For many families the immediate priority remains a secure roof and stable living conditions; for the policy makers and aid actors involved, the task is to translate visible reconstruction into durable, inclusive recovery that reaches the communities still living in tents.
